TORONTO -- The Blue Jays designated Anthony Bass for assignment on Friday, 11 days after the reliever shared an anti-LGBTQ2S+ Instagram video and just hours before he was expected to catch the ceremonial first pitch on the opening night of Pride Weekend.

Prior to Thursday’s game against the Astros, general manager Ross Atkins spoke with the media in a group setting for the first time since Bass shared the video on May 29. Atkins expressed his belief that Bass’ original apology to him and manager John Schneider had been sincere.

Exactly 24 hours later, Atkins described the decision to DFA Bass as primarily a baseball move.

“There’s a myriad of variables, and performance is usually the driving one,” Atkins said. “Performance was a large aspect of this decision. Distraction was a small part of it and something that we had to factor in.”

Bass also referred to this as a “distraction” at multiple points, saying that he learned not to share his personal beliefs on social media moving forward, but stood by his personal beliefs, saying only that he can see in hindsight that he “could see how people would view it” as hateful.

The post, which called for the boycotting of brands such as Target and Bud Light due to their support of the LGBTQ2S+ community, referred to that support as “evil” and “demonic” while calling on people to “take no part” in the targeted businesses.

This created something far more hurtful than a “distraction” to many Blue Jays fans, particularly the many members of the LGBTQ2S+ community who follow and support this organization.

“I wish that we could take that back, if that is the case,” Atkins said. “We definitely don’t want anyone feeling hurt. We’re focused on the environment. We care about this community and we care about our fans. I deeply regret if people do feel that way. It certainly was not our intention. These are very difficult decisions that have a lot of variables that go into them.”

On Thursday, Atkins expressed the organization’s desire to make the ballpark a more welcoming place for all fans.

“We will continue to work hard to make sure that this is an inclusive environment and one where we will not stand for behavior that makes it otherwise,” Atkins said. “Obviously, things happen that we have to react to, like the case of Anthony Bass. We will react and we will respond. We feel like with his apology and being accountable and taking the steps to become more aware, that we’re one step closer to a more inclusive environment.”

Now, Bass’ time with the organization has come to an end. The Blue Jays explored trade partners for the 35-year-old reliever, but they were unable to find a taker. In a corresponding roster move, Toronto activated Mitch White from the 60-day IL to take Bass’ spot.

Bass struggled to produce value on the mound this season, as well, pitching to a 4.95 ERA as part of a poor start. After entering the season as one of Toronto's core relievers, and pitching ahead of Erik Swanson and Jordan Romano on the back end, Bass had been relegated to low-leverage innings at the tail end of his tenure.

The decision to have Bass catch the ceremonial first pitch on Friday night to open Pride Weekend was made in a meeting the reliever had with Pride Toronto executive director Sherwin Modeste, and while the organization was eventually brought into this conversation, it felt Bass was sincere in his desire to take part.

Now, that first pitch will be caught by Kevin Gausman, who along with his wife, Taylor, has openly supported Pride Nights and the LGBTQ2S+ community.